In the family circle, nicknames are freely bestowed and used by family and close friends for years afterwards. I would imagine royal cousins and friends of the Windsors are used to calling the Queen "Lilibet" and I imagine the Queen encourages such familiarity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by principessa

On 18 April the Duke of Edinburgh has become the longest serving royal consort.

In the family circle, nicknames are freely bestowed and used by family and close friends for years afterwards. I would imagine royal cousins and friends of the Windsors are used to calling the Queen "Lilibet" and I imagine the Queen encourages such familiarity.

Isn't Prince Charles the oldest man to hold title as Prince of Wales?

He is the oldest to hold the title replacing Edward VII who was 59 when he became King but Edward VII has still held the title for longer as he was Prince of Wales for most of those 59 years being created PoW shortly after his birth and being born Duke of Cornwall.

Charles has been Duke of Cornwall for nearly 58 years (will reach that point on 6th Februrary) and Prince of Wales for nearly 52 years having been created Prince of Wales in 1958 (and invested in 1969).

In 2011 at some point he will surpass Edward for holding the Duke of Cornwall title for the longest period but it will take him 2016 to replace hm as the longest serving Prince of Wales. The dates might be out by a year due to the days actually involved but I am not capable of figuring that out - my Maths doesn't extend to the ability to add up figures.

Right and I believe your math is correct. Victoria created her son POW at a very young age and that is why Charles will have to hold the title longer in order to surpass Edward VII being the POW for the longest time. Of course, for Charles, reaching that distinction will be a dubious honor. His mother's longevity just may garner him a number of distinctions, including the oldest monarch to take the throne, surpassing William IV.

I don't presume to know when Charles will become King but the Queen is in very good health, and, God willing, may live for several more years. So I think there is a good chance that Charles may be older than 64 when he takes the throne.

If QEII has her own mother's longevity, Charles would be well into his eighties when his mother dies.

Actually, if the Queen reached the same age as her mother was when she died - namely 101 and about 6 months she would be dying in about October 2027 just a month or so before Charles turns 79 - not 'well into his eighties'. He of course could also then live as long (and I hope that he does) meaning that he has another 40 or so years, having just turned 61 last November. If so he would have a reign of about 20 years, and they would be wonderful years at that.

Hello perhaps someone can advise me. Last week on television I caught a brief glimpse of old footage of the Royal Family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, under the balcony was a large banner with Royal Insignia. The banner was blue and it had various insignia, mostly round, (circular) and it looked like the banner was in embroidery and goldwork. After an extensive internet search I have not been able to find an image of it. In the footage the Queen was younger and perhaps the image was from the 50s or 60s. Although it may have been from the Silver Jubilee as I have seen a similar but more modern balcony banner in a photo of the Golden Jubilee. If anyone knows anything about this banner, or has information or images please let me know . I am not even sure whether this is a banner or has some special name so any information would be appreciated. After spending days on the internet I have found nothing so any help would be gratefully received

Thank you, yes this was a small part of the banner (in the centre) but there were a lot of other motifs as well. It was not a flag it was a very large banner than ran the whole length of the balcony. The background was a mid blue. I am attaching an image of a similar banner from the Golden Jubilee. Thanks again

Is there every been any disclosure on how the Windsors vote in the UK elections? I know that the Queen is not allowed to vote (and probably so is Charles) but how do the rest of them (Camilla, Sophie etc. etc.) vote?

Is there every been any disclosure on how the Windsors vote in the UK elections? I know that the Queen is not allowed to vote (and probably so is Charles) but how do the rest of them (Camilla, Sophie etc. etc.) vote?

The Queen is the only one who legally can't vote either for the House of Commons or the House of Lords but... there is no evidence that other major members of the family have ever voted.

If they did, like everyone else, their vote would be a secret ballot and thus no one would know how they voted and thus no disclosure about how they would/did vote in elections in the UK.

I was under the impression that some of the Lords who now sit there are elected by their peers i.e. other Lords in which case people are voting for the Lords. House of Lords Elections These 'other people' are the Lords themselves and some of the royals are also amongst those Lords.

They royal dukes etc used to be able to vote in the Lords although they rarely, if ever, did so.

It is up to the politicians to sort out the electoral mess.
First, they have to wait for all the results to be in. In the case of Orkney and shetland and other remote locations, this may take some time.

I think Edward VII considered voting once while Prince of Wales, but he was persuaded not to.

That's right. He had served on a Housing Commission and knew that if he voted in support of the subsequent legislation it would pass but if he didn't it would fail. He was persuaded not to as his vote would be seen as trying to influence the vote and so didn't vote and was proven right. The Bill failed and housing reform didn't happen.

As the Queen has seen so many governments from both/all parties come and go for so many decades, I suspect it would be difficult (although not impossible) for her to have formed a definitive political pursuation. Her aspect on politics (and I suspect it's the same for her family) is going to be different from that of most of the population.